Sept. 19, 1878] 



NATURE 



555 



tion and Copious Explanations, by Collyns Simon, LL.D., 

 author of "The Nature and Elements of the External World," 

 and Proposer of the Berkeleian Prizes in 1848 and 1850. 



A NEW book on Ferns has just made its appearance at Salem, 

 Massachusetts, under the title of "Ferns in their Homes and 

 Ours." Its author is Mr. J. Robinson, Professor of Botany, 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and the book forms one of 

 a series called the " American Natural History Series." It has 

 been put together especially for the use of persons residing in 

 the United States, but the author has nevertheless made himself 

 thoroughly acquainted with the works of European pteridologists 

 and pays a high tribute to those of our own country, notably the 

 more recent works of the veteran John Smith. Though the 

 book commences with a consideration of the life-history of a 

 fern, classification, distribution, and nomenclature, it is for its 

 practical part, dealing with the selection and cultivation of these 

 favourite plants in living, that the book will be most valued. 



News from Denmark states that the last pillar of the first 

 £xed bridge across the Lim Fjord has now been finished ; the 

 new bridge will connect Aalborg on the south side of the fjord, 

 with Norresundby on the north, and it is hoped that it will be 

 opened for traffic during the autumn. Our readers will remember 

 that the Lim Fjord is an arm of the sea stretching right across 

 the Danish continent from east to west. 



Some interesting excavations have been recently made at the 

 *'Limburg," a large ruin near Diirkheim in the Bavarian 

 Palatinate, at the instigation of the German Anthropological 

 Society. During 1877 prehistoric remains had been found at 

 this spot, and the work being continued this year, numbers of 

 ■urns, human and animal bones were discovered, all undoubtedly 

 of prehistoric origin. The most interesting part of the discovery 

 is the laying bare of a cremation ground. 



A PAPER on " The Salt Lakes, Deserts, and Salt Districts of 

 Asia," by Mr. Thomas Wai-d, read before the Liverpool Literary 

 and Philosophical Society has been published separately, with a 

 map. The author endeavours to illustrate from what is known 

 to be going on in the formation of salt at the present time, the 

 way in which salt was formed in past ages. 



The Rev. Thomas Powell, of Upolu, Samoa, writes us that 

 in vol. XV. of Nature, p. 503, in our report of the Linnean 

 Society, his paper on " Poisoned Spears and Arrows " is repre- 

 sented as having reference to Samoa. Mr. Powell sends us a 

 cori-ected copy of the paper from which we see that the paper 

 has reference to the New Hebrides. The Samoans, Mr. Powell 

 states, have no such custom as the use of poisoned weapons of 

 any kind. They formerly made use of the bow and arrow, not, 

 however, for purposes of ^^'ar, but of sport only. The introduc- 

 tion of fowling-pieces has abolished the use of the bow. An- 

 other error, Mr. Powell writes, into which we have been led is 

 the statement that Callophyllwn inophyllum was among the trees 

 A\hose milky juice was used as a poison. This is not Mr. 

 Powell's statement. His informant said that the Toto resembled 

 that tree in general appearance. The C. inophyllujn is a valu- 

 able timber tree in common use. Its flowers and fruit are used 

 in Samoa as a perfume. From its fruit an oil is extracted in 

 Fiji, which is useful as a liniment in rheumatism. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Banded Ichneumon {Herpestes fasciatus) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. F. T. Blackley ; two 

 Vinaceous Turtledoves (Tiirlur vinaceus) hova West Afi-ica, a 

 Greek Land Tortoise (Testudo grceca), European, presented by 

 Miss Harris ; a Common Adder ( Vipera berus), European, pre- 

 sented by the Viscount Mandeville ; a Spotted Turtledove 

 { Tuttur auritus), bred in the Gardens. 



A FOSSIL PLANTS 



■JV/TANY years ago the late Sir William Logan drew attention 

 to the occurrence of fossil plants in the Devonian strata 

 of Canada, and Prof. J. W. Dawson, F.R.S., in the Quarterly 

 yournal of the Geological Society, in vols. xv. and xviii., 

 described and figured some of these specimens. Amongst them 

 was a plant which he designated Psilophytum. Dr. S. S. 

 Scoville has since discovered the remains of plants in the lower 

 Silurians at Longstreet Creek, near Lebanon, Ohio, which Prof. 

 Newberry considered as the casts of some large fucoids or marine 

 plants. Count Saporta has found the branch of a fern in the 

 Silurian schists or slates of Angers, France. Prof. Leo 

 Lesquereux, to whom we owe so much for his labours in inves- 

 tigating the fossil plants of the United States, in a paper read 

 before the American Philosophical Society, October 10, 1877, 

 has described and figured a plant from the lower Heldeberg 

 sandstone, Michigan, under the name of Psilophytum coi-nutum. 



In a paper read by myself before this society on December 26, 

 1876, I stated that after some years' search I had not been able 

 to find the Palcrochorda major mentioned by Professors Harkness 

 and Nicholson as occurring in the Manx schists in such a state 

 of preservation as to be certain of its true nature, but I had a 

 fucoid in my possession found by Mr. Grindlay in the drift near 

 Laxey. 



As Mr. Lesquereux's specimen so much resembles the one 

 found at Laxey I shall give his description at length. 



* ' Stem thick, dichotomous, divisions variable in distance, the 



terminal ones short, pointed nearly equal in size and length, 

 surface slightly rugose and irregularly striate. 



" The branches in the lower part are thick comparatively to 

 their length, three or four millimetres, irregularly striate when 

 decorticated, or merely punctuate upon the thin bark with small 

 projecting dots resembling the basilar remains of scales or small 

 decayed leaves ; lateral branches short, narrowed to a sharp 

 point ; the upper or terminal ones about equal in length, appear- 

 ing like a pair of pointed horns." 



The species is only comparable to some of the fragments not 

 specified but figured by Prof. J. W. Dawson (Geol. Survey of 

 Canada, Fossil Plants of the Devonian and upper Silurian 

 formations, Figs. 243, 244). The author remarks "that these 

 fragments are probably originating in the upper silurian of 

 Gaspe ; that as they are found in the lower part of the limestone 

 which underlies the Devonian Gaspe sandstone and become 

 more abundant in the upper beds, this suffices to indicate the 

 existence of the neighbouring land, probably composed of 

 Silurian rocks and supporting vegetation." 



From the preservation of its branches even to the smallest sub- 

 divisions, the specimens here represent part of a plant embedded 

 in the place of its growth. The matrice is a piece of very hard 

 calcareous shale seven to eight millimetres thick, bearing on one 

 side irregular undulations like ripple marks, without any trace of 

 organic remains, and on the other the fragments of plants as 

 fi^ed here. The branch in (a) represents a different species, 



I " Notice of a Fossil Plant found at Laxey, in the Isle of Man, " by E. W. 

 Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., President, paper read at the Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society, Manchester. 



